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Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is taking a leave of absence to seek help for substance abuse amid reports that two new recordings — one of unruly behaviour, the other of apparent drug use — have surfaced.

"I have decided to take a leave from campaigning and from my duties as mayor to seek immediate help," Ford said in a statement released shortly before 11 p.m. ET Wednesday.

"I have a problem with alcohol and the choices I have made while under the influence. I have struggled with this for some time."

Later in the statement, the mayor said, "I know that I need professional help."

Ford does not plan to drop out of the election, according to his lawyer, Dennis Morris, who spoke to CBC News earlier in the evening.

The news comes amid reports that two new recordings of Ford have surfaced. The Toronto Sun reported late Wednesday it had obtained a new and "raunchy" audio recording of Ford "ranting and swearing" in a Toronto-area bar on Monday night.

The Globe and Mail claims to have seen a second video, shot last weekend, of Ford smoking what the paper said "a self-professed drug dealer" described as crack cocaine.

The news comes amid a rocky re-election campaign in which Ford has repeatedly described himself as a changed man who has learned from the mistakes of his first term as mayor.

His leave of absence appears to leave Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly in charge, though city council already handed Kelly many of Ford’s mayoral powers last fall.

The Sun posted its recording online. It was reportedly made Monday night at Sullie Gorman's, a restaurant in Toronto's west end — deep in Ford's home territory and across the street from a park named for his father, Doug Ford Sr.

On the recording, a person alleged to be the mayor is heard being unruly, complaining about his wife, Renata, and making lewd comments about mayoral contender Karen Stintz.

Ford is reported to have said, "I'd like to f-----g jam her," in reference to Stintz.

Ford also complains about Ontario's political leaders' decision to fly a flag "ahead of our Canadian flag" — presumably alluding to the rainbow flag flown at the provincial legislature during the Sochi Olympics to support gay rights.

Specifically, he criticizes Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak for voting in favour of the motion to fly the flag.

"Tim Hudak comes out and says, 'Yeah, I agree with all the gays,'" Ford is heard to say. "Right there, he lost my vote."

There was an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today program this morning with one of Jean McConville's sons, in which he said although he knows the identies of her kidnappers he would not speak to the police for fear of endangering the lives of his family, even after 40 years.

Oh, and I saw a grand two papers running with Adams as a main headline and one as a sub-headline. The Independent has a small section buried in it. The head of a UK and Eire political party has been arrested for a particularly nasty murder, and that's all we fucking get? Might as well put up a headline saying "Northern Ireland Ruled Unimportant; 'If Important They'd Be English', Say Editors"

I think it's crap that the US House couldn't get non-redacted emails/papers regarding the ongoings of the White House staff in regards to the attack of the US Embassy in Benghazi and it took a lawsuit from Judicial Watch to get these documents to the public.

“Now we know the Obama White House’s chief concern about the Benghazi attack was making sure that President Obama looked good,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “And these documents undermine the Obama administration’s narrative that it thought the Benghazi attack had something to do with protests or an Internet video. Given the explosive material in these documents, it is no surprise that we had to go to federal court to pry them loose from the Obama State Department

This just shows us the two political parties are in it for themselves. It also shows us the majority of the media is in the tank. As far as I'm concerned, this Rhodes moron needs to be thrown out of public service.

To be fair, it was headline news on the BBC this morning, but then by teatime it was all about Peaches Geldof and Nigel Farage being hit by an egg.

Well, beyond the arrest nothing's going to move fast in this case. The PSNI will keep their cards close to their chest, and Adams will make his usual denials, believed by no-one in either the UK or Ireland regardless of political allegiance, that he's ever had anything to do with the IRA. Meanwhile the news-cycle rolls on...

I think it's crap that the US House couldn't get non-redacted emails/papers regarding the ongoings of the White House staff in regards to the attack of the US Embassy in Benghazi and it took a lawsuit from Judicial Watch to get these documents to the public.

This just shows us the two political parties are in it for themselves. It also shows us the majority of the media is in the tank. As far as I'm concerned, this Rhodes moron needs to be thrown out of public service.

How does he know what the documents say if they're redacted?

"It's not whether you win or lose, it's whether I win or lose." - Peter David, on life

Judicial Watch sued to get the redactions elimininated. Not all the emails/documents were un-redacted, but the ones that were showed a clear attempt by the White House AND Pres. Obama's re-election staff to change the narrative on the attack. They willingly lied to us (using Susan Rice- who I think was a dupe in this) and then continued to cover it up by redacting non-secretive emails/documents. They thwarted Congress by refusing to give them the unredacted memos showing this, and it took a judge to force them to do this YEARS later. All for the glory and re-election of Pres. Obama.

Solicitors acting for the men in this case approached 70 sets of barristers' chambers - and only found one QC willing to act - before he pulled out the very next day. What's clear is that counsel who have previously undertaken this kind complex work have dug their heels in and are refusing to accept the 30% cut.

This can't be good, and if it filters down to 'less complex' cases, the coalition's tough on crime credentials will take a serious dent. Though it's tempting to say it serves them right, it's in no-one's interest for criminal trials to start collapsing all over the place.

One of those unexpected consequences we absolutely should have expected. And once there's a precedent, expect to see dodgy bastards (assuming this lot aren't themselves dodgy bastards) claiming they can't get proper lawyers in order to gum up their trials.

Originally Posted by Puppetmaker Grae

Adams will make his usual denials, believed by no-one in either the UK or Ireland regardless of political allegiance, that he's ever had anything to do with the IRA.

The impression I got was that Adams admits to being involved in the IRA in a vague general sense but somehow never had any involvement in or knowledge of any specific act of IRA violence. Nice, safe ex-terrorist. (or am I thinking of McGuinness?)

Paranoid rumors are not only common at gatherings of antigovernment “Patriots,” they’re practically the entire raison d’etre for them. So when a wild and paranoid rumor began circulating – that Attorney General Eric Holder was preparing a drone strike on the armed militiamen who gathered at Cliven Bundy’s ranch in Nevada – it unleashed a rift within the camp, which is brimming with fear, rage, testosterone and firearms.

Vicious infighting among those remaining at the camp – estimated at less than a hundred – broke out a little more than two weeks after heavily armed militiamen forced federal agents to back down from a planned roundup of Bundy’s illegally grazing cattle from public lands. After vowing to stay on and protect Bundy – who then stumbled on the national stage with an outpouring of racist commentary – the remaining “Patriots,” who have been raising fear levels among local residents, have begun feuding. And it has been revealing.

Apparently, someone within one of the major factions at the camp, the Oath Keepers, relayed word of the imminent drone attack to his leaders. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes responded by pulling his people out of what they called “the kill zone” (the area the supposed drone would be striking). When the other militiamen learned that the Oath Keepers had pulled out, they were outraged.

As you can see in the video below, the angry militiamen – led by a Montana “Patriot” named Ryan Payne, who has been acting as the spokesman for the militiamen at the ranch – held an impromptu gathering at the camp to discuss the situation. They openly talk about shooting Rhodes and other Oath Keepers leaders – because in their view, the Oath Keepers’ actions constituted “desertion” and “cowardice” – and describe how “the whole thing is falling apart over there.” At the end, they vote unanimously to oust the Oath Keepers, or at least its leadership, from the Bundy Ranch camp.

Stewart Rhodes, meanwhile, is claiming he's been assaulted physically, and that the two factions have drawn weapons on each other (that video recording was featured on NBC News' Rachel Maddow Show on Thursday).

The only real losers in this... are all the ordinary people living in Bunkerville, who have to dive for cover if and when a shootout between these nuts takes place.